Have you ever wanted god to simultaneously upgrade your smartphone and send you back into the past? Well, now you can in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, where you are sent to the past for unknown reasons, except for the fact that Arceus wants you, the player to capture every Pokémon possible in order to once again meet with it. Where in the past have you been sent to? Well, you've been sent to Sinnoh in the past, otherwise, known as Hisui at the time at least.
Throughout the years the "main series" Pokémon games remained almost the same as one another game mechanic-wise. However, newly added game mechanics each generation do add a bit of spice to the game making it more enjoyable although some of these mechanics do end up getting scrapped and replaced with a new ones. The goal for each game also remains consistent as it involves the player collecting some sort of recognition through battle until the player is ready to battle for the title of champion, and completing the Pokedex of course.
Legends: Arceus manages to split off from the "main series" games in a good way, as it completely changes the formula for the better. One of the newest additions is the crafting system which allows the player to forage for resources that may be used to later craft pokeballs, healing items, power-ups, and treats to lure Pokémon to a certain location. I found this feature to be handy as well as a good motivator to explore Hisui. The way you complete the Pokedex was also changed completely, now in order to fully complete a Pokémon entry, you need to do small tasks such as: capturing that specific Pokémon x amount of times, witness it do a certain action, evolve it, or catch a certain variation. Although this feature may make it feel like you're actually researching a Pokémon, it slowly becomes repetitive and tiresome after a while.
Legends: Arceus also reimagines the entire battle and capturing system. Regarding battling, two major changes are added, strong/agile style and turn order. Strong and agile style moves both affected the power and changes the turn order depending on which one is used. That newly added feature may be very helpful when you find yourself in a pickle. When it comes to capturing Pokémon, you are now able to toss pokeballs without even entering a battle. This allows you to be more efficient when it comes to capturing Pokémon, seeing as you're now able to catch multiple pokemon at a time. On another note Pokémon now have different behaviors when you encounter them in the overworld. You may notice that some Pokémon may shy away from you or even charge at you.
Not only does Legends: Arceus change the way you play the game, it's story and setting heavily differ from previous "main series" games. Hisui takes place in a small village where people both fear and haven't found a way to coexist with Pokémon. You play as an outsider who eventually wants to figure out their purpose from being sent to the past, so you join the scouts in order to learn more about Hisui and a giant distortion ripping through time and space, which floats above Hisui. One of your main goals throughout the game is to challenge a group of enraged Pokémon, although it's not your typical battle. These Pokémon tend to violently attack others, in this battle you have to weave around these Pokémon attacks which almost feels like the Pokémon equivalent of Dark Souls. As you dodge these attacks you throw balms containing the Pokémon's favorite food in order to calm it down. There are also side quests you may take up which usually involve helping out the locals which may include certain Pokémon. This slowly leads to the people in this village becoming more acquainted with Pokémon and promotes coexistence between the two.
Legends: Arceus absolutely blew me away, however, there were some things that I wasn't a whole big fan of. In order to actually progress through the story you needed to complete a specific amount of your Pokedex, which is an interesting way to promote the newly added feature as well as exploration, although some of the time it just felt tiresome to do so. I was also not a huge fan of the textures they felt really dull and boring some of the time. It also felt like I was exploring the same location some of the time. The story also repeats itself due to it repeating itself, you complete a region of the map and defeat the frenzied Pokémon, and it is time to move on to the next region and do the same thing. Although to be fair there are some minor differences between each region.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus really does change the formula for the better, and was honestly really fun to play through as well as enjoyed exploring Hisui despite its flaws. I also find it to be a good step in the right direction for the franchise and am excited to see where it'll lead too. Overall one of my favorite Pokémon games, And would give it a solid 8 out of 10 Staryus.
-Nolan
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